In wireless radio communication systems, such as cellular telephone networks, it is generally recognized that there is a great need and utility for accurately determining in real time the location of mobile radio transmitters, such as cellular phone handsets and pagers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,512,908 to Herrick mentions the application of cellular location information to 911 dispatching, tracking unauthorized cell phone usage, and tracking or locating commercial and/or government vehicles. U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,144 to Stilp et al. also mentions various applications of mobile location information, such as locating lost or stolen vehicles, assisting lost motorists, and dispatching emergency vehicles.
All of the above location-based services, however, depend fundamentally on the ability to obtain consistent and accurate location information in a wide range of environments. Although conventional techniques for location finding can provide location information in certain limited situations, they fail to provide accurate and reliable location information in many environments, particularly in urban environments where signal multipath is often severe. Urban environments, however, are the places where such services are often needed most.
In contrast to conventional techniques for location finding, Hilsenrath et al. in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/780,565 (which is not admitted to be prior art with regard to the present invention by its mention here) disclose a unique method for location finding that performs especially well in multipath environments, and requires only a single base station. While conventional wisdom views multipath signals as noise to be reduced, ignored, or eliminated, the method of Hilsenrath et al. takes advantage of multipath signals to help identify transmitter locations. Because signal signatures are naturally associated with locations by virtue of the spatial dependence of multipath, the base station can use this fact to determine a location by matching a measured signature with a particular calibrated signature in a database of signatures and corresponding locations.
Due to noise and other uncertainties, however, it can be difficult to ensure a reliable and unique match between a measured signature and one of the calibrated signatures, and thus obtain accurate and unambiguous location information.